1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to assay methods, and reagent means for use therein, of the homogeneous or heterogeneous specific binding type for determining qualitatively or quantitatively a ligand in a liquid medium. In particular, the invention relates to specific binding assays employing non-radioisotopic labels. Further, the invention relates to non-radioisotopic labeled conjugates for use in such assays and to methods of their preparation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In conventional specific binding assay techniques, the test sample is combined with reagent means of various compositions that include a conjugate having a monitorable label component and a binding component which participates with other constituents, if any, of the reagent means to form a binding reaction system producing two species or forms of the labeled conjugate, a bound-species and a free-species. The relative amount or proportion of the labeled conjugate that results in the bound-species compared to the free-species is a function of the presence (or amount) of the ligand to be detected in the test sample.
As an illustration a conventional competitive binding assay technique will now be described. In such a technique the reagent means would comprise (1) a labeled conjugate in the form of the ligand to be detected (e.g., an antigen or hapten), such ligand constituting the binding component of the conjugate, chemically linked to a label component, and (2) a specific binding partner for the ligand (e.g., an antibody). Upon combination of the test sample and the reagent means, the ligand to be detected and the binding component of the labeled conjugate would compete in a substantially nondiscriminating manner for noncovalent binding to the specific binding partner. As a result, either the amount of labeled conjugate that would become bound to the binding partner (i.e., that results in the bound-species) or that amount which would remain free (i.e., unbound to the binding partner and thus that results in the free-species) can be measured as a function of the amount of competing ligand present. The amount of labeled conjugate resulting in either species is determined by measuring, i.e., monitoring, the label component therein.
Where the labeled conjugate in the bound-species and that in the free-species are essentially indistinguishable by the means used to monitor the label component, the bound species and the free-species must be physically separated in order to complete the assay. This type of assay is referred to in the art as "heterogeneous". Where the bound-species and free-species forms of the labeled conjugate can be distinguished, a "homogeneous" format may be followed and the separation step avoided.
The first discovered type of highly sensitive specific binding assay was the radioimmunoassay which employs a radioactive isotope as the label component. Such an assay necessarily must follow the heterogeneous format since the monitorable character of the label is qualitatively unchanged in the free and bound-species. Because of the inconvenience and difficulty of handling radioactive materials, many new assay systems have been devised using materials other than radioisotopes as the label component, including enzymes, fluorescent molecules, bacteriophages, metals and organometallic complexes, coenzymes, enzyme substrates, enzyme inhibitors, cyclic reactants, and chemiluminescent reactants.
The following describe several different heterogeneous binding reaction systems in which an enzyme is employed as the label component: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,654,090; 3,791,932; 3,839,153; 3,850,752; and 3,879,262; J. Immunol. Methods 1:247 (1972); and J. immunol. 109:129 (1972). A heterogeneous binding assay utilizing a non-active precursor of a spectrophotometrically detectable substance as the labeling substance is suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 3,880,934. Of further background interest pertaining to heterogeneous assays is Principles of Competitive Protein-Binding Assays, ed. Odell and Daughaday (J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 1972).
An enzyme-labeled immunoassay of the homogeneous type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,817,834 wherein a ligand enzyme conjugate is employed. The enzymatic activity of the conjugate in the bound-species is measurably less than that in the free-species, thereby allowing a homogeneous format to be used. The use of particularly unique materials as labeling substances, including coenzymes, chemiluminescent molecules, cyclic reactants, and cleavable fluorescent enzyme substrates, in both homogeneous and heterogeneous formats, is described in German Offenlegungschriften Nos. 2,618,419 and 2,618,511 based on U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 667,982 and 667,996, filed on Mar. 18, 1976, and assigned to the present assignee.
While the search for non-radioisotopic labels in binding assays has produced a number of workable solutions, there remains room for improvement. The enzyme-labeled approaches appeared at first to be the most promising, however, in practice several difficulties have come to light. The high molecular weight and heterologous nature of enzymes creates problems in characterizing, stabilizing, and reproducibly preparing the labeled conjugates. These problems were overcome by replacing enzyme-labels with low molecular weight labels monitorable by their reactant activity. These novel labels, including coenzymes, enzyme substrates, cyclic reactants and chemiluminescent reactants, can be used to form assays of high sensitivity and versatility. However, monitoring of these labels often requires instrumentation which for the present is not commonly found in the clinical laboratory.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a non-radioisotopic binding assay employing a novel label which is monitorable with standard clinical laboratory equipment while retaining the reactant-label advantages of sensitivity, versatility, and ease of synthesis and characterization of labeled conjugates.